The human body is central to artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Through the body, artists express fundamental beliefs about the nature of being, social ideals, gender roles and hierarchies of power, both earthly and divine. Join us as Debra Diamond, Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, places Jain aesthetic expressions of the Jinas and other perfected beings in the broader context of artistic expressions of enlightened and divine bodies across the courtly and religious artistic traditions of India.

By grouping masterpieces from the Freer’s permanent collection, the exhibition explores concepts and aesthetics of the body—from the perfect bodies of Hindu gods to the Indian courtly body as site of both pleasure and power; from the enlightened bodies of Buddhist and Jain traditions to divine conceptions that transcend physical form. The theme of the body provides a portal for appreciating how India’s extraordinary culture is woven from distinctive but interrelated traditions.

The human body is central to artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Through the body, artists express fundamental beliefs about the nature of being, social ideals, gender roles and hierarchies of power, both earthly and divine. Join us as Debra Diamond, Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, places Jain aesthetic expressions of the Jinas and other perfected beings in the broader context of artistic expressions of enlightened and divine bodies across the courtly and religious artistic traditions of India.

By grouping masterpieces from the Freer’s permanent collection, the exhibition explores concepts and aesthetics of the body—from the perfect bodies of Hindu gods to the Indian courtly body as site of both pleasure and power; from the enlightened bodies of Buddhist and Jain traditions to divine conceptions that transcend physical form. The theme of the body provides a portal for appreciating how India’s extraordinary culture is woven from distinctive but interrelated traditions.

The human body is central to artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Through the body, artists express fundamental beliefs about the nature of being, social ideals, gender roles and hierarchies of power, both earthly and divine. Join us as Debra Diamond, Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, places Jain aesthetic expressions of the Jinas and other perfected beings in the broader context of artistic expressions of enlightened and divine bodies across the courtly and religious artistic traditions of India.

By grouping masterpieces from the Freer’s permanent collection, the exhibition explores concepts and aesthetics of the body—from the perfect bodies of Hindu gods to the Indian courtly body as site of both pleasure and power; from the enlightened bodies of Buddhist and Jain traditions to divine conceptions that transcend physical form. The theme of the body provides a portal for appreciating how India’s extraordinary culture is woven from distinctive but interrelated traditions.